For many firm owners, growth and acquiring new clients is on their mind. Even if you provide impeccable service, clients will still come and go. That’s the nature of every business. Keeping your pipeline full should be a top priority. While marketing is an effective way to attract new clients, it isn’t the only thing that you should do to grow your client base. A few additional steps are needed if you want to bring in the right clients for your firm.
1. Know Your Ideal Clients
It’s important to know who you’re looking for before you set out on your search for more clients. Perhaps your firm specializes in a particular service and you’d like to find new clients needing this service. Or, maybe you want to focus on bringing in more clients in a specific vertical.
You also want to consider ideal client characteristics. A good starting spot is to take a close look at your existing clients. Which ones would you consider to be “great?” What characteristics do they share?
Think carefully about what your ideal client is like:
- Are they easy to work with?
- Are they responsive and meet deadlines?
- Have they connected you with other great clients?
- Are they a profitable client?
You may have additional factors that are important for your individual firm. Be sure to include these on your list.
Once you have an idea of who your ideal client is, you can begin targeting those clients through your marketing campaigns.
2. Extend Your Reach with Social Media and Content Marketing
Social media marketing and content marketing are two effective ways to extend your firm’s reach and attract more clients.
Your team has an immense amount of valuable knowledge and experience to share with potential clients. Use your collective intelligence to create content that demonstrates your firm’s expertise and helps position your firm as an industry leader.
Here’s how content marketing and social media marketing can help grow your client base.
- Creating a blog for your website will help attract targeted, organic leads in need of your services.
- Staying active on social media and engaging with your followers allows you to demonstrate your expertise and network with other professionals.
- Guest blogging on other websites allows you to extend your reach and attract new potential clients.
If you really want to grow your client base, leveraging social media and content marketing is a highly effective way to do that. You’ll also build your brand awareness and gain the trust of potential clients through content marketing.
3. Partner With Professionals to Offer Complementary Services
One way to grow your client base and increase revenue from existing clients is to offer complementary financial services, such as:
- Advisory services
- Financial planning
- Succession planning
- Individual securities
These are services that your clients likely need, so why not offer them? Serving as a one-stop shop for your clients’ financial needs can help improve retention and attract new clients.
Additionally, these services will help increase your firm’s revenue for both existing and new clients.
Moreover, clients expect accounting firms to offer these services. A recent report from Sage found that 79% of accountants say clients expect their accounting firms to offer business and finance consultancy. Offering these services now will help you better serve new and existing clients and keep them from turning to your competitors.
Many firms are hesitant to begin offering additional financial services because they don’t want to hire more in-house staff. However, forming a partnership with a financial services firm like FFP will allow you to offer these services without having to hire new staff. Firms like FFP have teams of highly experienced professionals who can offer the quality services your clients expect from your team.
Expanding your services through these strategic partnerships is a win-win for all parties. Your firm better serves the needs of its clients, and your clients enjoy the convenience of having one contact point for their financial needs.
4. Expand Your Network
Networking is crucial in business, and that includes the accounting field. Make the most of networking events, both in-person and virtual. For in-person events, check out local business meetups in your area or become a member of the Chamber of Commerce. As far as virtual events go, consider looking for events on social media. Events are happening every single hour. It’s your job to prioritize attending them.
Once you leave the events, be sure to follow up with your new contacts.
5. Ask for Referrals
Satisfied clients are your best salespeople, and their recommendations add to your firm’s reputation. A lot of firms build their client base off of referrals; however, when was the last time you specifically asked clients to spread the word about your accounting firm? Be proactive. If a client likes working with you, ask them to spread the word.
Don’t forget to leverage online platforms like LinkedIn for endorsements and recommendations. You’ll also want to add endorsements, recommendations, and testimonials to your website.
Some firms also find that a referral rewards program provides a great return on investment.
Final Thoughts
Every accounting firm should be actively pursuing new clients, whether it’s the busy or slow season. Use these tips to attract new customers and extend your firm’s reach.
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Joseph Graziano, CFP is the Vice President and Wealth Management Partner at FFP Wealth Management. Through FFP management, Joe and his team help manage over 2.4 billion in assets. FFP Wealth Management has served the unique needs of the accounting community for over 28 years and was formed out of the dire need for accountants and financial planners to join forces in providing premium services to their clients. If you’re looking to grow your client base and want to discuss ways to do so, schedule a discovery call with FFP Advisors Joseph Graziano today.
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Tags: Advisory, CAS, Firm Management
